Simone de Beauvoir Quotes

This has always been a man's world, and none of the reasons that have
been offered in explanation have seemed adequate.

All the idols made by man, however terrifying they may be,
are in point of fact subordinate to him, and that is why he will always
have it in his power to destroy them

To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.

When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is
that he does become inferior.

The word love has by no means the same
sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious
misunderstandings that divide them.

All oppression creates a state of war.

Buying is a profound pleasure.

Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she
behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.

In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome,
stubbornness is stupid.

Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a
rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.

If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a
defeat.

No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than
the man who is anxious about his virility.

One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of
others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.

Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without
delay.

To make oneself an object, to make oneself passive, is a very different
thing from being a passive object.

I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to
be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me
completely. I have only myself.

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we
must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living.

A man attaches himself to woman - not to enjoy her, but to enjoy
himself.

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love
for truth - and truth rewarded me.

That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you
always feel as if it costs you nothing.

Capabilities are clearly manifested only when they have been realized.

I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.

In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality:
the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a
human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives
that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living.

Even if one is neither vain nor self-obsessed, it is so extraordinary
to be oneself - exactly oneself and no one else - and so unique, that
it seems natural that one should also be unique for someone else.

Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men;
they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with
absolute truth.

One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine
situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically
impossible.